Bodacious boats

There are many kinds of boaters. Some crave speed, others pride themselves on their vessel’s looks, and still others desire comfort.

Stan-Craft of Post Falls is a boat building firm that easily satisfies all those needs – provided your pockets are sufficiently deep.

The company specializes in wooden boats, that from a distance, appear to be throwbacks to the classic runabouts of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. But look close and watch fast: These are a new breed altogether.

Their African mahogany hulls are a deep V forward that flatten to an aft undercarriage. That design delivers a buttery soft ride, even in rough waters.

Stan-Craft vessels are fitted with bow thrusters that permit the driver to nudge the boat sideways when docking, a feature usually found on yachts of 40 feet or longer.

Their upholstery is classic tuck-and-roll, but of a fine-grained Naugahyde that won’t check and crack like leather.

And they move out: A 34-foot Stan-Craft boat that’s dubbed “The Missile” is expected to scoot along at 80-plus miles per hour when it’s launched into Lake Coeur d’Alene’s waters next month.

This is no assembly line operation. Stan-Craft’s 12 employees produce a dozen boats per year for prices that range from $125,000 to a half mil, but if you’re willing to settle for a used Stan-Craft, you might be able to pick up a 26- to 30-footer for something like $185,000.

The firm was founded in 1933 on Montana’s Flathead Lake by Stan Young, for whom it is named. For a period after World War II, Stan, his son Syd, and their employees built fiberglass boats, but then came the 1981 movie “On Golden Pond.” In it, Henry Fonda cruised the waters near his Adirondack cabin in a beautiful wooden runabout.

That rekindled interest in classic “woodies,” and Stan-Craft sailed into that niche market, coincidentally moving that same year to North Idaho which had a more thriving economy than Montana’s.

With his wife Julie, Syd has run the company since taking it over from his dad in 1970. And now a third generation – Amy and Robb Bloem, Syd’s younger daughter and son-in-law – are taking over the firm,

Robb, 34, and Amy, 31, are Coeur d’Alene natives who’ve been dating since they were kids. They’re graduates of the University of Colorado – she in business, he in architectural engineering.

It was while he was studying for his MBA and law degree in Seattle that Robb had his epiphany.

“Christine Gregoire, who was then Washington attorney general, spoke to my law class,” Robb remembers. “She advised us to take at least an hour or two off for our families once a month. When I thought about it, that was no life, and no one likes lawyers much either. I decided to make a change.”

That was in 2003.

He called his father-in-law, asked for a job and now, calling himself an “associate,” is in charge of the day-to-day operations while he and Amy are in the process of buying the business.

While watching over their boy, River, 3, and girl, Elliott, 11 months, in the firm’s upstairs office, Amy understudies her mom, learning the business end of the business.

Robb works in the 16,000-square-foot set of shops on Seltice Boulevard. He wears dust-coated jeans, a T-shirt and a backward ball cap as he oversees the handwork, now and again lending a hand, but always ensuring that his workers pay attention to the details.

That includes hand-brushing each hull with 15 coats of Epifanes, a special Dutch-made marine varnish, then buffing out the last coat until it gleams like glass.

If you’re hankering for a Stan-Craft boat, you’d better get your order in soon. The firm is backlogged and the builders won’t be able to start on new craft until July.

In addition to the 34-foot Missile, Robb and his workers are finishing up a 30-foot Loboy Hardtop, a cocktail cruiser with granite countertops; a 28-foot Starchaser with a 550-horsepower Viper engine; and a 37-foot water taxi with plasma TV, bar, barbecue and twin 350-horsepower engines.

The latter boat is to carry guests to the new Gozzer Ranch resort at the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene, while the other three are to be ported at the gated Black Rock community.

While Stan-Craft boats cruise waters across the United States, the latter four, and the five before, are all to be found on North Idaho waters.